Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins, pictured during a 2018 interview with the Frederick News-Post after being re-elected to a fourth term.
A longtime sheriff in Frederick County, Maryland faces a multi-count federal indictment in connection with an alleged scheme to lie to the government on sheriff’s office paperwork so a gun store owner who promised political support would be able to acquire and rent out machineguns to members of the public.
Charles “Chuck” Austin Jenkins, 66, and Robert Justin Krop, 36, face counts of conspiracy to interfere with a government function and to violate federal law regulating machineguns, false statements during the purchase of firearms, false statements in records maintained by a federal licensee, and false statements to the ATF. Krop is additionally charged with knowingly and unlawfully possessing a FN Herstal SCAR 17, a FN Herstal SCAR 16 CQC, a FN Herstal SCAR 16, a KRISS USA Vector SMG, a Remington ACR, a FN P90 Tactical, and a FN M249 SAW.
Jenkins is accused of conspiring to illegally buy machineguns through the use of his office’s letterhead so Krop, a political supporter and owner of The Machine Gun Nest, could obtain and rent out the aforementioned firearms to private citizens, according to the indictment.
“Krop and his businesses held up to two Federal Firearms Licenses (‘FFLs’) that allowed Krop and the business, under certain circumstances, to possess and deal in machineguns,” the government said in a press release.
But a criminal conspiracy allegedly unfolded from August 2015 through May 2022.
The sheriff allegedly used his office’s letterhead to falsely attest in “law letters” to licensed dealers and manufacturers (and by extension on ATF forms) that the machineguns were “dealer sales samples for law enforcement demonstration purposes,” according to the indictment. The government alleged that the weapons were instead rented out to The Machine Gun Nest’s customers and raked in six figures in profits for Krop — who reiterated his potential support in May 2022 emails to the sheriff.
Sheriff Chuck Jenkins messages with TGMN
“Jenkins and Krop conspired to unlawfully purchase machineguns and falsified multiple documents on the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office letterhead requesting machineguns for evaluation and demonstration to the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office. Krop allegedly drafted these documents for Jenkins’ signature,” the government said in its press release. “According to the indictment, Jenkins and Krop knew that there would not be a demonstration of the machineguns to the Sheriff’s Office and that the machineguns were intended for rental to Krop’s customers. Krop also allegedly illegally possessed seven machineguns. The indictment further alleges that Krop’s business offered political support to Jenkins in recognition of his support for the business.”
Sheriff Jenkins is a conservative multi-term elected Republican sheriff who most recently ran and won in 2022.
“I’m just a law and order, no-nonsense guy,” Jenkins summarized himself in a 2018 election with the Frederick News-Post.
Discussing his full support for the Second Amendment amid a wave of school shootings, the sheriff told the News-Post, “I’m just a very staunch Second Amendment guy. I believe in gun ownership, the right to own firearms — either for self-defense, sport shooting, whatever the case may be. It’s not the gun, it’s society and the people that make the decision to [commit these crimes].”
Later in the interview, he named Condoleezza Rice — “one of the smartest people I’ve ever seen in public life” — and Donald Trump — “just to pick his brain” — as two people he would have dinner with.
“I’ve been around Donald Trump,” he noted.
Jenkins also listed hunting and “shooting sporting clays and trap shooting, shotgun sports” as his hobbies.
“If convicted, Jenkins and Krop face a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison for the conspiracy, for false statements in records maintained by a federal firearms licensee and for false statements to federal law enforcement. If convicted, Krop also faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for unlawful possession of a machinegun,” the government noted.
The court docket did not indicate a forthcoming court date nor list an attorney for the defendants as of Thursday morning.
Read the indictment here.
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